Shoppers 'sad' as M&S closes 'landmark' store after 56 years

The M&S store successful Crawley (Image: Reach Plc)

Shoppers are saying farewell contiguous (Saturday) to a 'landmark' Marks & Spencer store that has stood successful a municipality centre for much than fractional a century. The M&S successful Queensway, Crawley, West Sussex, opened its doors successful October 1968.

But astatine 4pm connected Saturday they volition adjacent for the last time. The retail elephantine said the determination was partially down to changing buying habits, though it said backmost successful the summertime that it wasn't giving up connected precocious streets.

Residents person said they are bittersweet that the store is closing. They said it would permission a large spread successful a municipality centre that was successful a "sorry state".

Vanessa Roberts, who has lived successful the municipality since 1982, told BBC Radio Sussex: “It’s shocking truly due to the fact that the municipality centre is conscionable empty. It’s conscionable java shops, foundation shops, barbers and nail salons. M&S has been present arsenic agelong arsenic I’ve lived here. It’s truly sad.”

Another nonmigratory told the BBC: “It’s a landmark store for the town, it’s a spot of a shame that it’s closing, but I conjecture that’s the times changing. It’s a shame to beryllium losing an iconic store successful the municipality centre.”

The store is not overmuch younger than present-day Crawley itself. It was designated arsenic a caller municipality successful 1947, with the villages of Three Bridges and Ifield being merged with what was past the tiny marketplace municipality of Crawley. Rapid maturation followed and successful 1958 Queen Elizabeth II opened Queens Square, the large buying country adjacent to the M&S store.

Graham Bennett, M&S determination manager, said unit would beryllium offered alternate roles with M&S wherever possible.

He added: “Thank you to each our customers who person shopped astatine the store - we volition proceed to enactment hard serving you astatine our adjacent Acorn Park M&S Food. Shopping habits are changing and our store rotation strategy is each astir making definite we person the close stores with the close abstraction – successful the past twelvemonth we person invested much than £12m successful our stores crossed the South East.”

It mightiness not beryllium the end, though. M&S has said it would beryllium unfastened to investing successful a caller store successful the municipality if it finds the close tract successful the future. In caller years, M&S has focussed connected much modern stores successful out-of-town retail parks, with immoderate of its much accepted stores, similar Crawley, being closed. Another illustration is Falmouth, Cornwall, which mislaid its ample M&S store successful aboriginal 2019 - the tract inactive stands vacant.

The doors volition adjacent for the last clip connected Saturday (Image: Reach Plc)

But successful July bosses astatine Marks & Spencer said they would not “leave metropolis centres” amid disapproval from shareholders implicit moving immoderate stores to out-of-town developments. It came arsenic the retail elephantine announced plans to put £38 cardinal successful large caller precocious thoroughfare stores successful Bath and Bristol astatine its yearly wide gathering successful westbound London.

The retailer has undergone a sweeping overhaul nether main enforcement Stuart Machin, and erstwhile brag Steve Rowe, which saw the radical shingle up its store estate. In 2019, the radical launched 110 store closures arsenic portion of the plans, affecting a fig of its longstanding precocious thoroughfare shops.

The group’s bosses were asked whether they person “given up connected the precocious street” astatine the AGM successful July, amid concerns they were shifting progressively towards retail parks.

Archie Norman, president of the business, said: “No, we haven’t fixed up connected the precocious street. We person a precise important store rotation programme but we are perfectly not trying to permission metropolis centres – that has ne'er been our intention. We bash person immoderate older stores that are hard and costly to support and tally truthful we person to look astatine that.”

Mr Machin said the programme of closures, refurbishments and relocations followed a erstwhile deficiency of indispensable investment. “Our store rotation is truly a catch-up programme connected the past 20 years arsenic we person antecedently underinvested,” helium said.

In July, the retailer confirmed that it was investing £17 cardinal successful a caller store successful the centre of Bath and £21 cardinal connected a caller flagship store successful cardinal Bristol. It said these were expected to make astir 150 jobs.